Peter Smart is product manager for Discus, a consumer durable manufactured by Advance Technologies that sells for a retail price of $100. Average retailer margins on Discus are $33, while average wholesaler margins are $8. Advance Technologies and its direct competitors sell a total of 200,000 units annually, with Discus leading the highly competitive market with a 24% market share. Variable manufacturing costs for Discus are $9 per unit. Fixed manufacturing costs are $900,000. The advertising budget for Discus is $465,000 and Peter’s salary and expenses total $70,000. Advance Technologies employs salespeople who sell the product to wholesalers and are paid entirely by commission (10%). Discus shipping costs, breakage, insurance, and related expenses amount, on average, to $2 per unit. Given the preceding information, answer the following questions:
- What is Discus’ unit contribution & breakeven point?
- What market share does Discus need to break even?
- Should Peter permanently decrease Discus’ price by 10% in an attempt to capture an even larger share of the market? Why or why not? (Assume retailer and wholesaler margins remain the same when answering this question).